Promo Codes & Where To Find Them

Nothing is more convenient than shopping online, and promo codes can help you save a lot of money while you do it! The best way to find promo codes is to think like a business and look where you would put a promo code if you were in their position.

The little box for entering promo codes seems to taunt you if you don’t have any codes to fill it with, so use this guide to always have something to put in it.

1. Scour The Site You Purchase From

Many sites offer promo codes somewhere on their web page to encourage you to look around. For example, Kohl’s frequently offers a promo code directly on its homepage, while other retailers such as Overstock.com keep them in a dedicated Coupons page instead. The top banner is another common location for promo codes, especially those for free shipping on purchases with a total higher than a specified amount.

2. Follow Your Favorite e-Commerce Sites On Social Media

Have you ever noticed how desperate stores are to gain Facebook friends and Twitter followers? The reason behind this is simple: By doing either, you are essentially agreeing to look at as many ads as they can put out. They figure that if you’re constantly seeing advertisements, you’ll buy something eventually. Most people wouldn’t want to do this, of course, so retailers offer promo codes to entice you to opt-in. The same principle applies to the company’s e-mail newsletter, which almost always offers a discount immediately after signing up.

If you don’t see any coupons on a retailer’s social media page, you might want to try asking for one. Some firms, such as Markitors, find it beneficial to give promo codes to those who ask instead of distributing them everywhere and hoping for the best. Likewise, some businesses reward regular customers with surprise savings on their next order.

3. Go Through Your Mail

There may be a valuable promo code hiding in that junk mail you were just about to throw out. Retailers have distributed coupons through the mail for years, and those with an e-commerce arm frequently provide promo codes that let you use an in-store coupon online. The specifics of the offer may change slightly when used online, so make sure you understand a promotion completely before relying on it at checkout.

4. Utilize Third-Party Discount Sites

It can be a challenge to locate promo codes on your own, but thankfully numerous websites have already done most of the heavy lifting for you. Sites such as DealsPlus.com, CouponCabin.com, and Coupons.com allow users to type in the name of the retailer they want to do business with and see all of the active promotions that company currently has available. Users are permitted to rate any codes that failed to work, helping to weed out some of the more unreliable ones. Still, you should make sure the item(s) you plan to purchase is actually included in the promotion to avoid any unwelcome surprises at checkout.

Many of these sites receive a commission for referring you to one of their retail partners, so they have a strong incentive to entice you to use them instead of another site. Some offer exclusive promo codes unavailable on other platforms, while others offer cash back programs to increase the efficacy of their promotions. Bearing this in mind, it is actually to your advantage to go to a third-party site even if you found the same offer elsewhere. The added perks can really add up!

5. Pay Attention To TV And Radio Advertisements

Yes, nobody likes the commercial breaks that separate blocks of the program you are watching or listening to. However, many companies use promo codes to measure how effective a given ad spot is. For example, Indeed.com has purchased radio adverts in the past including a promo code for a discount on a premium job listing. If Indeed.com used different promo codes (of equal value) for their ads on other mediums, the rate at which each different code is used would be a strong indication of where future ads should be placed. Using a promo code from TV or the radio not only allows you to save money now but also encourages the retailer to provide similar coupon codes for you to find later.

Hopefully, these tips helped you find more promo codes than you know what to do with. Feel free to share your best promo code-locating tips in the Comments section below!